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VOX Box: Heretic Saga 16
Characters * Red X * Desperado Location * Blackgate Isle, Gotham City, NJ * October 25th 2016, 0915 Local Time VOX Archive * Desperado: shifting, groan, frustrated sigh, clatter, spurred footsteps This is pointless. One step forward and two steps back... * Red X: chuckle Told you, Tex. It's best if you just relax and enjoy the scenery and the company. * Desperado: scoff Can't say I have much of either of those to enjoy, though. * Red X: ...That wasn't very nice, Tex. * Desperado: I'm not from Texas. * Red X: You're not? * Desperado: No. I'm from Wyoming. * Red X: What do you call a person from Wyoming? * Desperado: Wyomingite. * Red X: scoff I'll stick with Tex then. * Desperado: footsteps Figures... Well, if you ain't gonna help me dig us out, maybe you can at least help ease my worrisome mind. Any chance you saw what happened to Bulleteer? * Red X: No, I did not. She didn't fall down here. That means Lady Arkham probably has her. * Desperado: sigh You expect me to believe you're not working with that freak? You both have weird skull masks- * Red X: You're wearing a cowboy hat. Does that mean I should lump you in with the Rough Bunch or- * Desperado: I was member of the Rough Bunch. * Red X: You were? chuckle Huh, you look good for your age. * Desperado: It's a long story. * Red X: I would imagine so, gramps. * Desperado: I think I preferred 'Tex'... * Red X: Nah, gramps is better. * Desperado: sigh So you know nothing about Lady Arkham? * Red X: I know plenty about her, but... that doesn't mean we're simpatico. * Desperado: My mistake then. What can you tell me about her? * Red X: She's in league with Waller. * Desperado: Amanda Waller? The deputy chief of ARGUS? * Red X: No, the lady over Arkham's Black Wing experiments. * Desperado: Uh, I think we're talking about the same woman. ARGUS owns Arkham Asylum. * Red X: Oh... Okay, that makes more sense now then... * Desperado: How does someone like Lady Arkham and Amanda Waller get in bed together? * Red X: What?! Look, I don't know anything about their love lives- Ew! I didn't want to know they were a thing! * Desperado: What? No... sigh It's an expression for "workin' together". * Red X: Oh... Okay... I didn't... I'm sorry. I'm not all up on the old timey lingo, gramps. * Desperado: Nevermind the expression. How do they fit together? Waller employing Arkham or- * Red X: It's hard to explain, but Lady Arkham is wearing a prototype suit meant to turn an ordinary person into a formidable threat. * Desperado: Not that hard to explain at all. I've seen my share of exo-suit wearing types on both sides of the law. * Red X: Not like this, you haven't. The suit also has this slightly radioactive liquid pumped through it. This stuff does two things. First, it gives the person meaningful power. It turns normal peoples into powered up freaks. * Desperado: What kind of freaks? * Red X: Depends on the wearer. Most just get super strong or bulletproof or something like that. Others might learn to spit fire or teleport or turn invisible. As for this Lady Arkham, I think she's some sort of psychic. * Desperado: The cane. * Red X: Bingo. That stick of hers was designed as a weapon to quell prisoner riots in Arkham by taking the user's dormant psychic energy and magnifying it... That's how she hits you with that telekinetic force that feels like you were run over by an elephant and leaves you completely disoriented... only, you did not seem to be as much affected as your metallic friend. Why's that, gramps? * Desperado: I'm tougher than I look... and my brain's been fortified to resist certain psychic expletive. * Red X: Huh, that's rather impressive, gramps. My nana had to pop pills just to remember her way to the toilet. * Desperado: sigh Okay, so what else does this armor of hers do? You said it had two purposes. * Red X: Right. Well, the red stuff also has some sort of mind control element to it. It makes them puppets under the control of Waller's bidding. * Desperado: Waller's bidding, huh? Lady Arkham must be one of her prisoners then? * Red X: Most likely, yeah... That seems to be Waller's favorite test subject. It's what she did to me. * Desperado: Come again? * Red X: Uh... nevermind that. * Desperado: Fair enough... What can you tell me about Lady Arkham's masked muscle? * Red X: That's Lock-Up. He's some ex-military sort or something that Waller uses to enforce discipline on the Black Wing. He'll occasionally be dispatched to bring back escapees, too. * Desperado: Is he also controlled by this 'red liquid' you mentioned? * Red X: Lock-Up? No... I think he does it for the sheer enjoyment of it. The guy's a right bastard, he is. * Desperado: chuckle Yeah, I could have guessed that. I'm not a fan of his, I'll admit it. So, let's talk about you. * Red X: Me? What about me? * Desperado: How insulated is your helmet for starters? * Red X: My helmet? What kind of question is-? * Desperado: thud, chuckle, clatter, latch unsnapping Now, why don't we see who you are, Mr. X... gasp I... I have no idea who the hell this is. * Red X: groan Hey! Give me that! groan, footsteps, clatter, latches snapping Not cool, dude. Isn't that like rule one of the hero code? 'Don't unmask another hero'? * Desperado: scoff You're not a hero. You're a thief, remember? * Red X: scoff I'm not a hero? Well, how about when... No... Or when I- No... Okay, fair play, but still! Would you like it if I walked over there and pulled that goofy handkerchief off your-? * Desperado: Like this? shifting It's called a bandanna... The name's Greg, by the way. * Red X: gasp Oh, wow, man... Are we having a moment? * Desperado: fabric shifting Don't think too much of it. Just being fair is all. And I wouldn't worry too, much, kid, because I don't know you from Adam. * Red X: Who is Adam? I don't know any Adam. * Desperado: sigh It's... It's another expression. Seriously? You never heard that before? * Red X: No, gramps. * Desperado: Either way... It means I don't recognize you from any other loser low-life on the streets of Gotham. * Red X: Are you saying all us low-lives look alive? * Desperado: When I'm done punching your face in? Yeah, more or less. * Red X: You've got issues, gramps. * Desperado: Says the guy who used to be a resident of the local sanitarium... * Red X: Exactly! That shows how off-the-rails you are. * Desperado: pause Hey... you feel that? There's a breeze. * Red X: No... I don't feel a breeze. I'm covered head to toe in armor, remember? If I feel a breeze, it means I've been shot and am bleeding to death. And I don't want to die. I'm way too pretty to die. * Desperado: spurred footsteps Come on... It's coming from over here... spurred footsteps Yes... There's some light coming in here. Help me move this grating. * debris shifting, rubble settling, cough, cough, footsteps, loud rumble, debris falling on concrete * Red X: You hear that, gramps? * Desperado: Yeah... a faint Canary Cry... We must be under Black Canary. Help! Down here! * Red X: shifting, scoff Not that... The ceiling... It's cracking! Look! * Desperado: expletive! Run! Quick! This way! footsteps, debris collapsing, concrete cracking, rumble, rumble, thunderous impact, door slams, thud, huff, huff, chuckle, seagull calls Oh, fresh air... * Red X: Looks like this is where we part ways, gramps. See ya around! blipt * Desperado: chuckle Happy trails, pardner... beep Gimmix, I need a pick up... Is my GPS thingy workin'? Trivia and Notes * Part of the Heretic Saga Storyline. * Story continues from VOX Box: Heretic Saga 15. * Story continues in VOX Box: Heretic Saga 17. * This is an updated version of VOX Box: Team Building Exercises 4 and VOX Box: Team Building Exercises 5 featuring new characters. Links and References * VOX Box: Heretic Saga 16 Category:VOX Box Category:Red X/Appearances Category:Greg Saunders/Appearances Category:Blackgate Island/Appearances Category:Gotham City/Appearances Category:Heretic Saga Storyline